Film centres on a civil war in the future based around gender.
Pinewood Studios has backed a short film for the first time as part of its film financing initiative.
Alpha: Omega centres on a century-long civil war where the battle-line is gender and the resource at stake is reproduction.
Production company Gobby and Specs are behind the project that producer, director and co-writer Chanya Button and writer Sian Robins-Grace are developing into a feature.
Pinewood chief executive Ivan Dunleavy and head of Apollo Productions Steve Norris at Pinewood Studios singled out the project for support.
Norris said: “Pinewood has been steadily building its involvement in British, independent film in the last couple of years and has already backed some really exciting projects with some of the best new talent working in the UK.
“Alpha: Omega is the first short film Pinewood has put money into and we’re excited about the results. Chanya has worked...
Pinewood Studios has backed a short film for the first time as part of its film financing initiative.
Alpha: Omega centres on a century-long civil war where the battle-line is gender and the resource at stake is reproduction.
Production company Gobby and Specs are behind the project that producer, director and co-writer Chanya Button and writer Sian Robins-Grace are developing into a feature.
Pinewood chief executive Ivan Dunleavy and head of Apollo Productions Steve Norris at Pinewood Studios singled out the project for support.
Norris said: “Pinewood has been steadily building its involvement in British, independent film in the last couple of years and has already backed some really exciting projects with some of the best new talent working in the UK.
“Alpha: Omega is the first short film Pinewood has put money into and we’re excited about the results. Chanya has worked...
- 11/20/2013
- by [email protected] (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Classic ITV sitcom Rising Damp is to return as a stage play.
The original comedy series starred Leonard Rossiter as troublesome landlord Rigsby and aired on ITV between 1974 and 1978.
Don Warrington - who played the cultured Philip Smith in the sitcom - will direct the new stage adaptation from the Comedy Theatre Company.
The UK tour will launch in Blackpool at the Grand Theatre on Tuesday, May 14 before moving on to Darlington, Salford, Malvern, Norwich, Sheffield, Woking, Bradford and finally Richmond - wrapping up on July 20.
The play's cast includes Stephen Chapman (Rigsby), Paul Morse (Alan), Cornelis Macarthy (Philip) and Amanda Hadingue (Miss Jones).
The Rising Damp TV series was itself based on a stage play - writer Eric Chappell's 1971 work The Banana Box.
The original comedy series starred Leonard Rossiter as troublesome landlord Rigsby and aired on ITV between 1974 and 1978.
Don Warrington - who played the cultured Philip Smith in the sitcom - will direct the new stage adaptation from the Comedy Theatre Company.
The UK tour will launch in Blackpool at the Grand Theatre on Tuesday, May 14 before moving on to Darlington, Salford, Malvern, Norwich, Sheffield, Woking, Bradford and finally Richmond - wrapping up on July 20.
The play's cast includes Stephen Chapman (Rigsby), Paul Morse (Alan), Cornelis Macarthy (Philip) and Amanda Hadingue (Miss Jones).
The Rising Damp TV series was itself based on a stage play - writer Eric Chappell's 1971 work The Banana Box.
- 4/8/2013
- Digital Spy
Black Pond
Directed by Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe
Written by Will Sharpe
U.K., 2011
Comedy, in its nature and its presentation, has morphed dramatically over the past decade or so, both in North America and in Europe, in particular the United Kingdom. From the more overt, on the nose comedy of yesteryear we have now live in an era in which the comedy is delivered with a completely different version of wit. Jokes can be extremely situational or rely on dialogue delivered in manners which presume to be subtle but at the same are not really subtle at all. Even the stories which writers and directors have shared in the past few years have experienced with new framing devices. Oftentimes the films and television shows present them in a way so as to replicate the documentary style, hence the stories carry a degree of believability all the while the...
Directed by Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe
Written by Will Sharpe
U.K., 2011
Comedy, in its nature and its presentation, has morphed dramatically over the past decade or so, both in North America and in Europe, in particular the United Kingdom. From the more overt, on the nose comedy of yesteryear we have now live in an era in which the comedy is delivered with a completely different version of wit. Jokes can be extremely situational or rely on dialogue delivered in manners which presume to be subtle but at the same are not really subtle at all. Even the stories which writers and directors have shared in the past few years have experienced with new framing devices. Oftentimes the films and television shows present them in a way so as to replicate the documentary style, hence the stories carry a degree of believability all the while the...
- 8/3/2012
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
We are now a week into the three week long Fantasia Film Festival, and while we admittedly have been a little behind due to some technical issues with our website, we still managed to get a dozen film reviews published. Keep coming back to our site as we promise twice the amount of articles by the end of week two. In the meantime, here is a round-up of what we’ve seen and written about so far.
Black Pond
Directed by Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe
Written by Will Sharpe
U.K., 2011
Comedy, in its nature and its presentation, has morphed dramatically over the past decade or so, both in North America and in Europe, in particular the United Kingdom. From the more overt, on the nose comedy of yesteryear we have now live in an era in which the comedy is delivered with a completely different version of wit.
Black Pond
Directed by Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe
Written by Will Sharpe
U.K., 2011
Comedy, in its nature and its presentation, has morphed dramatically over the past decade or so, both in North America and in Europe, in particular the United Kingdom. From the more overt, on the nose comedy of yesteryear we have now live in an era in which the comedy is delivered with a completely different version of wit.
- 7/28/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Black Pond
Directed by Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe
Written by Will Sharpe
U.K., 2011
Comedy, in its nature and its presentation, has morphed dramatically over the past decade or so, both in North America and in Europe, in particular the United Kingdom. From the more overt, on the nose comedy of yesteryear we have now live in an era in which the comedy is delivered with a completely different version of wit. Jokes can be extremely situational or rely on dialogue delivered in manners which presume to be subtle but at the same are not really subtle at all. Even the stories which writers and directors have shared in the past few years have experienced with new framing devices. Oftentimes the films and television shows present them in a way so as to replicate the documentary style, hence the stories carry a degree of believability all the while the...
Directed by Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe
Written by Will Sharpe
U.K., 2011
Comedy, in its nature and its presentation, has morphed dramatically over the past decade or so, both in North America and in Europe, in particular the United Kingdom. From the more overt, on the nose comedy of yesteryear we have now live in an era in which the comedy is delivered with a completely different version of wit. Jokes can be extremely situational or rely on dialogue delivered in manners which presume to be subtle but at the same are not really subtle at all. Even the stories which writers and directors have shared in the past few years have experienced with new framing devices. Oftentimes the films and television shows present them in a way so as to replicate the documentary style, hence the stories carry a degree of believability all the while the...
- 7/27/2012
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; Dream House; Black Pond; Acts of Godfrey
When Rooney Mara picked up an Oscar nomination for her punchy central performance in David Fincher's American remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Sony, 18), one question hung awkwardly in the air: how come Noomi Rapace wasn't similarly honoured for her equally impressive turn as cyberpunk Lisbeth Salander in the original Scandinavian movie a couple of years earlier? Adapted from the first of Stieg Larsson's posthumously bestselling Millennium trilogy, Niels Arden Oplev's modestly budgeted thriller made a European star of the mercurial Rapace, who went on to feature in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and is soon to be seen headlining Ridley Scott's eagerly anticipated sci-fi epic Prometheus. It's hard not to conclude that, while Rapace delivered her dialogue in Swedish, Mara was feted for performing essentially the same role in...
When Rooney Mara picked up an Oscar nomination for her punchy central performance in David Fincher's American remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Sony, 18), one question hung awkwardly in the air: how come Noomi Rapace wasn't similarly honoured for her equally impressive turn as cyberpunk Lisbeth Salander in the original Scandinavian movie a couple of years earlier? Adapted from the first of Stieg Larsson's posthumously bestselling Millennium trilogy, Niels Arden Oplev's modestly budgeted thriller made a European star of the mercurial Rapace, who went on to feature in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and is soon to be seen headlining Ridley Scott's eagerly anticipated sci-fi epic Prometheus. It's hard not to conclude that, while Rapace delivered her dialogue in Swedish, Mara was feted for performing essentially the same role in...
- 4/14/2012
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Black Pond
Directed by Tom Kingsley & Will Sharpe
Screenplay by Will Sharpe
UK, 2012
Black Pond heralds an incredibly original, startlingly mature, and completely inscrutable new film-making duo. It’s unclear what exactly they have made with Black Pond; suffice it to say it is equal parts profound and hilarious while refusing classification.
Part mockumentary, part family drama, but mostly outrageously surreal British comedy, Black Pond provides the smallest of foundations before ascending into oddball lunacy. The mockumentary aspects here act as a flash-forward in which it is revealed that the Thompson Family has been accused of murder after a stranger dies at their dinner table. From there, directors Kingsley and Sharpe present a richly detailed profile of an upperclass British family. The complexity, and care, of which suggest several more films worth of material buried in this restrained farce.
Tom (Chris Langham) and Sophie (Amanda Hadingue) Thompson are an empty...
Directed by Tom Kingsley & Will Sharpe
Screenplay by Will Sharpe
UK, 2012
Black Pond heralds an incredibly original, startlingly mature, and completely inscrutable new film-making duo. It’s unclear what exactly they have made with Black Pond; suffice it to say it is equal parts profound and hilarious while refusing classification.
Part mockumentary, part family drama, but mostly outrageously surreal British comedy, Black Pond provides the smallest of foundations before ascending into oddball lunacy. The mockumentary aspects here act as a flash-forward in which it is revealed that the Thompson Family has been accused of murder after a stranger dies at their dinner table. From there, directors Kingsley and Sharpe present a richly detailed profile of an upperclass British family. The complexity, and care, of which suggest several more films worth of material buried in this restrained farce.
Tom (Chris Langham) and Sophie (Amanda Hadingue) Thompson are an empty...
- 3/16/2012
- by Emmet Duff
- SoundOnSight
Sound On Sight will once again be covering the SXSW Film Festival this year, making it our second time attending. 130 feature films will screen at the Austin, Texas fest taking place March 9-17, including 65 World Premieres, 17 North American Premieres and 10 U.S. Premieres. As previously announced, Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods will have the honours of opening the festival, and now they have released the full list of films – and it’s looking pretty amazing. Enjoy!
Narrative Feature Competition
This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.
Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail (World Premiere)
Eden
Director: Megan Griffiths,...
Narrative Feature Competition
This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.
Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail (World Premiere)
Eden
Director: Megan Griffiths,...
- 2/3/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry, shot by Bob Gruen in 1977
Rock 'N' Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen
screens as part of 24 Beats per Second
SXSW Film has just announced its features lineup for the 2012 edition, running March 9 through 17. We already knew that the Opening Night Film would be Drew Goddard's The Cabin in the Woods. For its Closing Night Film, the festival will host the world premiere of of Emmett Malloy’s documentary Big Easy Express (more below). The lineup, with descriptions from the festival:
Narrative Feature Competition
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin. When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted. Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail. (World Premiere)
Eden
Director: Megan Griffiths, Screenwriters: Richard B. Phillips, Megan Griffiths, Story by: Richard B. Phillips & Chong Kim.
Rock 'N' Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen
screens as part of 24 Beats per Second
SXSW Film has just announced its features lineup for the 2012 edition, running March 9 through 17. We already knew that the Opening Night Film would be Drew Goddard's The Cabin in the Woods. For its Closing Night Film, the festival will host the world premiere of of Emmett Malloy’s documentary Big Easy Express (more below). The lineup, with descriptions from the festival:
Narrative Feature Competition
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin. When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted. Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail. (World Premiere)
Eden
Director: Megan Griffiths, Screenwriters: Richard B. Phillips, Megan Griffiths, Story by: Richard B. Phillips & Chong Kim.
- 2/1/2012
- MUBI
With Sundance 2012 Film Festival over, the next big one on the horizon is South by Southwest, which we’ll be heavily covering. The biggest chunk of the line-up has been announced today, which has some great premieres including 21 Jump Street, Tiff and Sundance hit The Raid, Will Ferrell‘s Casa de mi Padre, the documentary Girl Model (which we liked at Tiff), as well as the next from Broken Lizard, The Babymakers. There are many other promising titles included and you can see them all below. Check back for our coverage for the fest, kicking off March 9th.
Narrative Feature Competition
This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.
Narrative Feature Competition
This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.
- 2/1/2012
- by [email protected] (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Attendees of South by Southwest 2012 are in for a treat. 130 feature films will screen at the Austin, Texas festival taking place March 9-17. Among them are 65 World Premieres, 17 North American Premieres and 10 U.S. Premieres. The organization already announced [1] Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon's The Cabin in the Woods would open the festival (the movie is phenomenal [2]) and today the majority of the remaining line up has been revealed. One of the highlights is the unbelievably smart and hilarious 21 Jump Street, directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller. Both of those are World Premieres. Other highlights include The Hunter, Killer Joe, The Babymakers, frankie goes boom, God Bless America, The Imposter, The Raid, Bernie and Casa de mi Padre just to name a few. After the jump, read descriptions of all the films that have been announced so far. Before I copy and paste the rest of the list, a few minor notes.
- 2/1/2012
- by Germain Lussier
- Slash Film
Black Pond (15)
(Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe, 2011, UK) Chris Langham, Colin Hurley, Amanda Hadingue, Will Sharpe, Simon Amstell. 82 mins
First-time films are traditionally youthful coming-of-age stories, but this delightful little oddity revolves around a miserable middle-aged couple and the deaths of first their three-legged dog, then a very strange stranger they invite to dinner. Everything about it is pretty eccentric, in fact, with surreal animated interludes, an absurd cameo from Amstell and plenty of off-balance domestic comedy, not to mention the risky return of Langham. But in its own idiosyncratic way, it all fits together perfectly.
Wuthering Heights (15)
(Andrea Arnold, 2011, UK) Kaya Scodelario, James Howson, Shannon Beer. 129 mins
Discarding the usual niceties of costume drama, Arnold rolls Brontë's saga in the muck for this provocative, sensuous interpretation. Sublime to start with, it never quite recovers from a second-half change of cast.
The Rum Diary (15)
(Bruce Robinson, 2011, Us) Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart,...
(Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe, 2011, UK) Chris Langham, Colin Hurley, Amanda Hadingue, Will Sharpe, Simon Amstell. 82 mins
First-time films are traditionally youthful coming-of-age stories, but this delightful little oddity revolves around a miserable middle-aged couple and the deaths of first their three-legged dog, then a very strange stranger they invite to dinner. Everything about it is pretty eccentric, in fact, with surreal animated interludes, an absurd cameo from Amstell and plenty of off-balance domestic comedy, not to mention the risky return of Langham. But in its own idiosyncratic way, it all fits together perfectly.
Wuthering Heights (15)
(Andrea Arnold, 2011, UK) Kaya Scodelario, James Howson, Shannon Beer. 129 mins
Discarding the usual niceties of costume drama, Arnold rolls Brontë's saga in the muck for this provocative, sensuous interpretation. Sublime to start with, it never quite recovers from a second-half change of cast.
The Rum Diary (15)
(Bruce Robinson, 2011, Us) Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart,...
- 11/12/2011
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
A first time British feature that is a deeply eccentric, haunting marvel
If Syd Barrett had ever written and directed a movie, it might well have looked like this: an indie tragicomedy from the dark heart of rural suburbia, by newcomers Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe. Black Pond is funny, dreamily lyrical, armour-plated with eccentric self-confidence and also intensely English. It also, I have to say, has one of the most disturbing dream sequences I have seen for a while. Looking around for recent comparisons, I find myself reaching for Nick Whitfield's Skeletons, or Ben Wheatley's Kill List, possibly Joanna Hogg's Unrelated, or even John Morton's TV mockumentary series People Like Us.
This last reference is, of course, due to the powerful, even sensational presence of Chris Langham, making his first professional appearance since his recent disgrace. He creates a portrait of bourgeois midlife crisis that...
If Syd Barrett had ever written and directed a movie, it might well have looked like this: an indie tragicomedy from the dark heart of rural suburbia, by newcomers Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe. Black Pond is funny, dreamily lyrical, armour-plated with eccentric self-confidence and also intensely English. It also, I have to say, has one of the most disturbing dream sequences I have seen for a while. Looking around for recent comparisons, I find myself reaching for Nick Whitfield's Skeletons, or Ben Wheatley's Kill List, possibly Joanna Hogg's Unrelated, or even John Morton's TV mockumentary series People Like Us.
This last reference is, of course, due to the powerful, even sensational presence of Chris Langham, making his first professional appearance since his recent disgrace. He creates a portrait of bourgeois midlife crisis that...
- 11/11/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
An ordinary family are accused of murder when a stranger dies at their dinner table.
Will Sharpe and Tom Kingsley’s Black Pond is a savvy slice of debilitated middle-class family life. The film and its characters may not quite tally up to more than their quirky parts, but this is still an intriguingly idiosyncratic debut.
We start with mockumentary-style interviews with Tom Thompson (Chris Langham), his wife Sophie (Amanda Hadingue), their two late-teen daughters and their shy friend Tim (Sharpe). Snippets from each hint at some ruinous event that has riven them apart, while...
Will Sharpe and Tom Kingsley’s Black Pond is a savvy slice of debilitated middle-class family life. The film and its characters may not quite tally up to more than their quirky parts, but this is still an intriguingly idiosyncratic debut.
We start with mockumentary-style interviews with Tom Thompson (Chris Langham), his wife Sophie (Amanda Hadingue), their two late-teen daughters and their shy friend Tim (Sharpe). Snippets from each hint at some ruinous event that has riven them apart, while...
- 10/10/2011
- by Paul Griffiths
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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